How to choose a good Biking Route

Lately, a lot of folks have been asking me how I choose my bike routes.
For the benefit of new riders I'll describe my approach here.
Personally, I prefer trying out new routes as often as possible.
However, once you find a good route, you'll end up riding it very often! (One such route is along La Canada).

Here's my approach:

Step 1: My first resource for a good bike ride is www.Bikely.com.
Bikely has an extensive database for bike routes in practically any bike-able part of the world.
Most routes are tagged which is pretty useful (I'm sticking to the intermediate rides for now)
Also as far as possible, stay away from streets/routes tagged with "on-road traffic".

Step 2: Google Maps.
I use Google Maps and find the path from my starting location to the closest point on the route from Bikely.
Using the "My Maps" option I create a new map and trace the entire route.
I then use the "Street View" option to review the route, to ensure I don't have to ride through streets
with lots of on-road traffic.** This is very useful.
Once I'm satisfied with the route, I share the Map of the proposed ride with a few riding buddies.

Step 3: Ride - with a GPS (Garmin 60c). I tried using the Iphone, but the battery always died out in an hour or so.
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Step 4: I Upload tracks from my Garmin to www.trailguru.com.
I then visualize my ride on Google Earth
The GPS import feature works very well with Google Earth. Go GPSBabel!

Step 5: Repeat Step 1.

Once you've done this a few time, selecting a new route takes less than 10 minutes.

And I honestly feel its more fun to ride when you're able to explore new areas.